SANTA CLARA, Calif. – The seventh-ranked Purdue women’s soccer team fell to Santa Clara 3-1 Sunday at Buck Shaw Stadium in the final game of the Santa Clara Classic.

“I think we were unable to match the energy and intensity that we demonstrated on Friday,” head coach Robert Klatte said. “Facing a talented team that was not only sound technically, but battled hard as well, we certainly were on the short end in large portions of the game. We came back into the match a little bit in the second half after a slight technical adjustment, but we never really were able to be consistent on our attack. Toward the end, we were pushing down 2-1 and opening up when they scored their third goal. This was a fantastic environment to test ourselves in back-to-back games against great opposition. Both sides were very organized defensively and had very good attacking players.”

Santa Clara (5-2-0) got on the board first when Anessa Patton took a ball played in by Allie Vernon just outside the penalty box. Patton was alone with goalkeeper Jenny Bradfisch and knocked the ball into the back of the net 2 minutes and 48 seconds into the game. The goal marked the first time this season Purdue has given up the first score of the game.

Purdue (5-2-0) tied the score in the 15th minute when senior Sylvia Forbes knocked the ball past the Santa Clara goalkeeper off a free kick from 20 yards away. Senior co-captain Jessica Okoroafo was fouled to set up the free kick, and Forbes sent a laser into the upper left corner of the net for her fourth goal this season.

The back-and-forth game continued as the Broncos pulled back ahead less than three minutes later. Amanda Webster took a pass from Olivia Klei and found the left side of the net at 17:27. Santa Clara had another scoring chance in the 23rd minute, but Bradfisch made a leaping save to push the ball off frame.

After the two teams played even for almost the entire second half, Santa Clara put the game away with a goal in the 82nd minute. Lexi Orand drew Bradfisch out of the net area and knocked the ball across to Vernon, who slid the ball into the open net.

Sophomore midfielder Lauren Montenegro and Bradfisch were named to the All-Tournament Team following Sunday’s competition. Montenegro played 168 minutes, including all 90 Sunday, while Bradfisch made eight saves throughout the weekend to keep the Boilermakers in contention.

“Making the All-Tournament Team was unexpected,” Bradfisch said. “But, I think we could have given up a lot more goals if I hadn’t done my job. Friday was one of my better games of the season personally.”

Santa Clara won the Classic after also defeating fifth-ranked Notre Dame 2-0 Friday night. Third-ranked Stanford, which defeated Purdue 2-1 Friday, earned a 2-0 win over the Fighting Irish in Sunday’s early game.

“I thought Lolo and Fisch had very good weekends,” Klatte said. “They were consistent throughout the 180 minutes of both matches. We are going to have to put our nose back to the grindstone and do some work. These teams were able to bring out areas of the game on which we need to improve if we plan on meeting them again in November.”

Purdue returns to action Friday as Wisconsin-Milwaukee comes to the Varsity Soccer Complex. The game is slated for a 5 p.m. ET start, and live results can be found at PurdueSports.com.